Stars w/ Hey Rosetta! at First Avenue, Minneapolis (19 Nov 2014)

Canadians Stars and Hey Rosetta! are currently on tour together, supporting new albums, stopping by First Avenue in Minneapolis, last night, November 19th. For fans who couldn’t make it, you can watch the show streaming online (and some encore re-broadcast in the next few days at Yahoo). I must have bad internet, because I’ve had issues streaming the video, so I’ll just have to rely on my notes to tell you about the following show….

Hey Rosetta!

Opening up the event was Hey Rosetta!, and, yes, all seven band members are on stage, with plenty of room. The last time I saw them, they played next door, at the 7th Street Entry, and they could barely share the tiny stage.



For this tour, I mentioned that they had an upcoming album called Second Sight (Sonic Records), and I thought they were going to preview some of those tracks… little did I know that the entire set consisted of the new album (please refer to setlist provided)! From what I can tell you about hearing those songs live, they have a tendency to build up to a very satisfying ending for each song (sometime with false endings). Every song feels epic because of the buildup, and I like the direction they’re heading in. Every band member contribute to the music, and you can hear all the French horns, all the keys, bass, etc.

Tim Baker

Singer Tim Baker, also doubles on keys and guitars, was most talkative when he introduced the “Harriet” song, stating that the song was about watching too much television and reading too many books and coming back down to reality and realizing you’re not a hero… as evident when he got lost on the “enigmatic skyway” (Minneapolis Skyway System).



After Hey Rosetta! went off the stage, the DJ started playing opera music. I’m assuming this was per request by Stars, because they also had custom intro and outro music (Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow” and Peter, Paul & Mary’s “Puff The Magic Dragon (instrumental)”).



The last time I saw Stars at First Avenue last year, I criticized them for just playing new songs (The North). Since I hadn’t heard the then-new album, it was hard to enjoy the show. This time around, they had a good mix of old and new songs. It’s a good setlist, but I’m partial to the older songs, of course. Songs like “Going, Going, Gone” and “Your Ex-lover Is Dead” got the hair on my neck to stand up.



Starting with the new song, “From The Night” and into an old song “Ageless Beauty”, something was bothering co-singers Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan. Campbell immediately asked for the lights to be turned down (the lights were bright because Yahoo was filming it) and said, “You paid your money, it’s great that they are streaming it, but this show is for you!”



His passions for Stars’ fans were incredibly genuine, even later thanking us again for making it possible for them to live through their music and art. “This is everything to us, and you make that possible.” They love what they are doing, and it shows.



About half their set were from the new album No One Is Lost (ATO Records), as expected. Unlike last year’s The North tour, the rest of the set seem like a mix of one of my favorite albums Set Yourself on Fire (“Your Ex-Lover Is Dead”, “Ageless Beauty”, “One More Night”) plus In Our Bedroom After the War (“The Ghost of Genova Heights” and “Take Me To the Riot”) and odds and ends.



The biggest surprise for me was “Going, Going, Gone”, from their debut Nightsongs. After seeing Stars in 2013, I was convinced that the band have simply moved on and did not plan on ever revisiting Nightsongs. I would LOVE to hear “My Radio” (either mix, I don’t care!) or their cover of “This Charming Man”, but that time is long gone. I still have hope that one day, they’ll play the entire album live.



There’s something that Campbell said before the band left the stage that hit home for me. He said, “See you soon, don’t you forget about us!”



This took me back when I first saw the group, in 2005 at the 400 Bar. I’m pretty sure that was the first time in Minneapolis… and although they didn’t do any Nightsongs, the thing I took away from this show was how amazing Torquil was – dancing throughout the show and not giving a f**** what people thought. He gave it his best, and I’ll always remember that. For any younger fans who saw Stars for the first time last night, I hope you remember the wacky dancing and the passionate singing!



Stars and Hey Rosetta! are touring the US right now. They are stopping in Chicago tonight, then Detroit and finally will end in Buffalo, New York, on November 23rd.

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com)
♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic